I applaud the Butler Eagle’s criticism in the Sunday, May 19, Cheers & Jeers section of Butler School District School Board Vice President Helene Abramowitz’s recent statement justifying a tax increase by comparing it to individuals’ voluntary expenses, in this case money spent for beer or cigarettes. As the editorial suggests, school district residents will “be victims of Abramowitz’s” polices because taxation — unlike other expenses — is mandatory and enforced by the government. Such a false analogy by Abramowitz reveals an utter evasion of the fact that the government is, by definition, a coercive entity.